Fatal Pursuit
by Alasdair H
Summary: Quinn's kidnapping of Dr Hall left S.H.I.E.L.D. with only one option – he had to be brought into their custody. The illegal mission to capture him was secretly sanctioned by the World Security Council & Agent Morse added to the team to ensure success. Can the team best Quinn and his powerful ally, the mysterious "Clairvoyant", and what will be the cost to do so?
1. Chapter 1

**Mellieha, Malta** \- Oct 11 2013

A dark green jeep sped along the crazy roads of Malta, somehow even faster and more dangerously than all the others. Antoine Triplett was sat in the passenger seat, tightly clinging to it with one hand and his seatbelt with the other. He, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, was scared for his life and rightly so.

"Do you have to drive so fast Dan?" he asked his partner.

"Well only if you want us to get there on time to snag Quinn" Dan responded sarcastically, never taking his eyes off the road.

Triplett grumbled.

"What's the matter Trip? Are you scared?" Dan teased him, the way a brother would.

Triplett went to punch Monroe's arm, as he usually did when Monroe was teasing him.

"Woah! Hey! You can't shove me" Monroe grinned "I'm driving."

"Well hurry up then, we have to be in position in exactly 7 minutes" Triplett retorted.

"Now you want me to drive faster? God Trip, won't you ever make up your mind?" Dan laughed, pressing the accelerator to the floor.

Two tall blonde women – Agents Kelly Parish & Bobbi Morse leapt out of a white speedboat and onto a tiny sandy Maltese shore. The boat quietly sped away across the clear blue ocean as Agents Garrett & Scott headed for their entry point to Quinn's complex. Kelly & Bobbi glanced over the rocky cliff face in front of them to find the water pipe that they were to enter through.

"Ah, there it is."

Bobbi pointed up at the large dark pipe protruding from the rock face. Kelly wasted no time as she marched over to the rock face and started to climb, her short blonde hair blowing around as she did. Bobbi quickly followed suit after sweeping her golden hair into a ponytail.

They reached the pipe in no time. Without even so much as a cautionary glance into the pipeline, Kelly climbed into it and switched on her torch. She had to almost double over to walk through.

"How long now?" Kelly asked Bobbi in her posh British accent.

"4 minutes and 21 seconds until we have to disable the force-field" Bobbi replied.

The white speedboat cut through the beautiful blue ocean. Agent John Garrett was steering the boat as Agent Debbie Scott continually applied sunscreen to her face. She flicked her shoulder length black hair away from her face with her sleeve.

"Are you sure you don't want any?" Debbie asked as she offered Garrett the bottle of factor 50.

"I'm fine" he harshly replied.

He paused.

"You know you don't have to keep up the charade when there's no-one else around?"

"This isn't part of my cover John. There's nothing wrong with making sure you don't get burnt and I thought you'd want to look after the parts of your body that you still have" she replied, fully aware of the robotic parts secretly replacing some of Garrett's body.

Garrett smoothly steered the boat up toward the shoreline. Scott swung the backpack over her shoulder and climbed out of the boat.

"How long have we got now Debs?" Garrett asked as he disembarked.

"1 minute and 48 seconds" she replied.

"We'd better hurry up then" he smiled smugly, "we have to at least pretend to want this mission to succeed."

"Good idea, unless you want everyone to find out that you're faking your commitment to S.H.I.E.L.D." she replied sarcastically.

With that, they rushed off to get into position.

Morse & Parish emerged from a manhole just inside the area of Quinn's complex, their boots and black trousers slightly stained around the ankles.

"So we just press this button and let the software do its job?" Parish asked.

Morse flicked her hair as she looked around, seeing no-one, just a cluster of buildings to her left.

"Garrett said that we just have to get it near enough to the network for the software to detect it, get in and take down the force-field."

"Oh, I just leave all the techy stuff to others. That's not my area of expertise after all" sighed Parish, brushing off Morse's detailed explanation.

"Just be grateful Coulson's team already corrupted the system for us" Morse snapped, clearly annoyed at Parish for her attitude.

There was a short silence between them before Parish returned the focus to their mission.

"52 seconds until we have to take down the barrier."

"And this needs 15 seconds from positioning to take do its job" Morse added.

Parish didn't need to be told that time was tight. She gave Bobbi a knowing look and the two of them silently and stealthily moved toward the buildings.

The green jeep rolled to a stop just a short distance from Quinn's complex. Monroe & Triplett jumped out. Trip quickly moved to the back of the car while Monroe moved more slowly and cautiously, keeping an eye out for Quinn's men.

"Catch" Triplett whispered as he threw a semi-automatic to Monroe.

Monroe caught the weapon with ease, checking the ammo and grabbing a few more mags from the trunk. He checked that he had the rest of his weapons on him. He looked back to Triplett and seeing that he was ready and waiting, they quickly made their way closer to the complex. As they neared their position, Monroe stopped and suddenly dropped into the bushes. Triplett ducked just in time as two of Quinn's men passed on patrol. Monroe looked to Triplett worriedly, tapping gently on his watch, reminding Trip that they only had 20 seconds left. Monroe gestured to indicate Trip was to take on the one on the left, he'd take care of the other guard. Triplett gave him a thumbs up and within 3 seconds, the two assailants lay unconscious on the ground.

"You're learning fast Trip, I'm impressed" mused Monroe.

Triplett half grinned, half glared at Monroe as they dragged the bodies into the bushes. On most missions, they probably would have switched uniforms, but they were short on time and their black unmarked SHIELD uniforms looked similar enough from a distance to those worn by Quinn's men.

"15 seconds left" Trip noted.

Monroe reached into his pocket, pulling out an earpiece.

"The girls better be in position" he replied to Triplett.

Trip kept staring at his watch. With 2 seconds to go, they switched on their earpieces and inserted them.

"Go!" came Parish's voice urgently but calmly over the comms.

Garrett & Scott rounded the corner of a building within the complex. Garrett signalled for Scott to move towards the door. Once she got there, she turned to see that Garrett was following closely behind. She tried the door and finding that it was unlocked, the two of them burst through it. Seeing no-one, they split up and headed into separate rooms.

"We've taken down some of Quinn's men but there's no sign of him yet" Morse reported over the comms.

"Well we haven't come across anyone over here" replied a puzzled sounding Scott.

"Trip and I have only come across a couple of Quinn's men. Surely this place should be busier?" Monroe added.

Out of the blue, each member of the team noticed the unmistakable sound of an approaching helicopter.

"Wait, what's that?" Triplett worriedly asked, knowing full well wat it was.

Parish held her tongue, the middle of an illegal, off-the-books mission was not the time for sarcasm. Instead, she carefully walked over to the window where she saw a nightmarish sight – Ian Quinn waiting to board a helicopter that was coming in to land on the roof of the next building.

"It's Quinn!" she yelled, deafening her fellow team members.

There was a stunned silence. Had Quinn seen them coming? Surely not, they had been so quick and quiet. Had he been tipped off? That would mean that one of them was a traitor. Fortunately, Garrett knew that at this moment they had to focus on the mission and he had an idea.

"Parish, you two get to the roof of your building to try and stop Quinn getting on that chopper. Monroe and Trip – do the same. We'll head for the roof he's on. Do not let him get away!" Garrett ordered.

Little did the team know that Garrett, their leader, the very one giving them orders on capturing Quinn was the traitor, the one who had tipped Quinn off under his guise of The Clairvoyant.

Monroe and Triplett were running up through the stairwell just one floor below the roof when they heard gunfire. Continuing their sprint up the stairs, they burst through the door and out into the scorching heat. Blinded at first by the powerful sun, they fumbled hurriedly for their shades as their eyes readjusted. Once they could see properly again, the two men quickly adapted to the unfolding scene in front of them. Agents Parish & Morse were on the roof of the building opposite them, firing at Quinn and one of his men while the body of another lay lifelessly in front of Quinn, blood oozing from it. Monroe followed Triplett's lead, diving behind the air-conditioning unit for cover. They began to fire at Quinn & his bodyguard, making them to duck for cover to avoid the crossfire. Bullets flew around and over the rooftops as the buildings, air con units and even the helicopter became accidental targets. Some bullets that hit the chopper pinged off, causing some return fire at the agents. One of the bullets that hit the helicopter broke the glass window and embedded itself in the pilot's arm. Crying out and clutching his arm, he let go of the controls and the chopper fell the few remaining feet to the roof, crashing onto it with a loud thud and nearly causing Quinn to be knocked off his feet. Realising the helicopter had landed, Quinn carefully climbed inside and slammed the door shut, abandoning his bodyguard. The window beside Quinn smashed as it received heavy fire. The pilot panicked and knowing his boss was on board, pulled up and the helicopter roared away. Conveniently late, Garrett and Scott ran out onto the roof just in time to see the helicopter zooming away. The abandoned bodyguard stood looking surprised, trying to decide on either surrendering or committing 'suicide by cop'. Garrett indicated that Scott should keep her gun trained on the assailant. Garrett turned to see the rest of his team, all still with guns drawn and pointed at the bodyguard.

"You let him get away?" he groaned.

"We tried our best John. Where were you?" Dan replied angrily, feeling let down by his leader.

"We were in another building. We can't fly, we're no Stark or Thor. We had to run like normal humans" Garrett lied.

Suddenly, the bodyguard seemed to make up his mind as he raised his gun at Garrett. He pulled the trigger but Scott pulled Garrett out of the way. The bullet intended for Garrett flew off astray. Another shot rang out and almost instantly the bullet smashed gracefully into the bodyguard's head as he fell dead to the floor. Parish looked coldly over at the bodies of the men that she had killed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Rabat, Morocco** -Oct 15 2013

A disguised Triplett wandered through a Moroccan market. The team had traced Quinn's chopper to the airport where he had boarded a plane bound for Morocco. It was far too hot for Triplett. He thought Malta had been hot but it was nothing on Morocco. He was dressed in long flowing robes and yet he still felt like they clung tightly to his sticky sweaty skin. Not far behind Trip, his inseparable partner, Monroe was also on the lookout for any of Quinn's men. They had been sent out with Agent Bobbi Morse to scour the streets while Agents Parish and Scott stayed in and sifted through CCTV feeds, much to Parish's annoyance. Garrett had insisted that he would be okay alone, as he went off chasing a mysterious lead. He needed some time to himself anyway – he was still mad about letting Quinn escape and starting this manhunt. Abruptly, Garrett came back on the comms.

"Hey guys, I'm back to join the party" he announced cheerily.

"What happened to your lead?" Parish asked moodily.

"It was a waste of time" Garrett sighed "How are the rest of you getting on?"

"Nothing yet Garrett but we're out searching the market while Parish and Scott sift through CCTV in the area" Morse replied, the rest of the team were a little too laid back for her liking.

"I know, 9 o'clock" Garrett advised.

Bobbi turned to see Garrett playing pretend tourist. He winked over at her. They continued to wander through the market for a couple of minutes, trying to blend in by stopping at the occasional stall when Scott found something.

"Okay guys, I've got one of Quinn's men. He's on the far side of the market. Sending you his location now" Scott announced proudly.

Morse, Garrett, Monroe, and Triplett warily kept up their act while moving towards their fresh target. Getting eyes on the target was the priority and once they had done so, they could more slowly and carefully advance on him. However, as soon as they got within 10 metres of the target, he bolted. The foursome gave up all hopes of blending in and hurried after him. The target disappeared into a building and the agents quickly followed. Bursting through the heavy engraved door, they found a small quiet house. There was a group of women sitting in the shade near the courtyard in dark, face covering robes. They jumped at the shock arrival of these unwanted guests.

"Did any of you see a man come through here?" Garrett pried, waving his gun about in their direction.

The four women reacted even more scared, huddling up closer together on the bench.

"I didn't mean to scare you ladies" Garrett laughed apologetically, lowering his gun.

"I don't think you did Garrett" Monroe interrupted, causing Garrett to turn and see two large men in the doorway.

"Is it just the two of you?" Morse asked cockily, she knew she could deal with them singlehandedly with her skills.

Morse lunged at the two men and Monroe went to loosen his silencer when Garrett crashed to the floor behind them. Monroe and Triplett turned to see that the innocent women who had been cowering on the bench had only been acting sacred. They were now coming at the agents with a selection of knives and other weapons.

"Oh, that one has no weapon, I'll let you take her" Triplett offered Monroe.

"If she doesn't have a weapon, maybe that's because she doesn't need one" Monroe gulped.

"I'll still let you take her then" Triplett replied, aiming his gun at one of the women.

Morse was swinging about the two men, giving them a beating with her impressive hand to hand combat skills while Monroe and Triplett clashed with the four women. Garrett dragged himself up from the floor as he rubbed the back of his head.

"What's going on?" came Scott's concerned voice over the comms.

"We followed that guy into a house and have ended up in a spot of trouble. I think we're onto something though" Garrett replied, slightly dazed.

Morse ran past Garrett and took down one woman with just a few blows.

"Don't hold back just cause they're women" Morse sighed to Trip and Monroe.

"We're not!" Monroe replied as he swiftly ducked out of the path of a flying knife.

Before Garrett knew it, his team had taken down each of the assailants.

"Well done Bobbi" he groaned.

"We could really use your medical skills Scott" Morse said, concerned about Garrett.

"I'm fine" he breathed heavily as Bobbi helped him up, "what do you think we got here?"

The four of them looked around.

"Looks like just a normal Riad" commented Monroe.

"Well if Quinn was here, he'll be long gone by now" Morse theorised.

"Nonetheless, we should still have a look around" Garrett ordered.

Parish and Scott were sat in a small room in their Riad base on laptops. They were keenly searching for any sign of Ian Quinn near the Riad that the rest of the team had stormed.

"If only I'd been there. That fight sounded like so much fun" Parish sighed moodily.

"It sounds like Bobbi handled it well" Scott replied.

"You know, I'd like to challenge her to a fight. I know I could show her up" Parish grumbled.

There was a knock on the door and Scott went to open it. Parish nosily peered over at the door and saw a beautiful redheaded woman, she returned to the desk. It must be one of their contacts Parish hadn't met. Debbie and Garrett had been a team for years before she joined them so it was natural that they had some secrets. Parish couldn't hear any of the muffled conversation but she could tell it was brief. Scott returned looking irritated.

"What's wrong Scott?" Parish asked.

"Well Kelly, it's time for me to go" Scott sighed as she packed up a few of her things.

"What do you mean?" Parish asked worriedly, while staring at her eerily calm colleague, something had changed.

"I wish I could've told you but John just wouldn't let me, I mean, I think he's being a bit rash but he's in charge here so who am I to argue" Scott rambled on as she calmly off the comms.

"What are you doing Debbie?" Kelly asked worriedly.

Debbie pulled her gun on Parish.

"You're going to kill me?" Parish protested.

Kelly raised her hands in a sign of surrender despite her knowledge that she could defeat Scott easily.

"I told you Kelly, John's orders. You know, I really wish he'd decided to bring you in on it – I think you'd make a good Hydra operative but he doesn't."

Parish was stunned at hearing two members of her team were Hydra so Scott took her opportunity and shot Parish in the leg.

"Ah!" Parish burst, grabbing her leg.

"Bye Kelly" Scott waved her gun as she headed for the door.

"You're a crap shot Debbie, it's just a flesh wound. I'll tell everyone about you and Garrett" Parish shouted after her.

"Oh Kelly, do you really think I'd just shoot you in the leg and let you go?" Scott asked.

With that, she dropped a large explosive on the floor near Parish and rushed away to safety.

"No, Debs, wait!" Parish yelled as she hobbled up to her feet.

The foursome had rooted around the Riad but found nothing. After their thorough search, they decided to head back to the Riad. As they made their way through the Moroccan streets, an explosion went off in the direction of the Riad.

"What was that?" Triplett exclaimed as the ground shook a little beneath his feet.

They watched the fireball go up in the air.

"Scott, Parish. Where did that come from?" Garret asked worriedly.

There was no answer.

"Scott? Parish? Do you read me?" he repeated.

"Oh my God" Monroe let out, dashing for the Riad.

When the team got there, all that was left was a pile of rubble. Garrett dramatically sank to his knees, he needed to pretend he was broken up about their deaths, even though he knew Debbie had survived.

"We need to get out of here" warned Morse.

"Kelly and Debbie were just murdered" Garrett fumed.

"Yes, and clearly that means they were found out, so we're in danger too" Morse explained.

"She's right John, if we don't get out of here we're just walking targets" Triplett chipped in.

Garrett got up from his knees and took his phone from his pocket.

"Victoria, we've got two agents down at my current location, we're evacuating immediately but we're going to need a crew here ASAP, and make sure there's a secondary team as protection."

He hung up the phone and the four agents harried away from the scene of the explosion, heading for the nearest S.H.I.E.L.D. base.


	3. Chapter 3

**London, England** -Oct 27 2013

The deaths of Agents Kelly Parish and Debbie Scott hit the team hard. They had reported to their nearest S.H.I.E.L.D. base, in southern Spain, for psychiatric examinations and to acquire new supplies. By the time they left, Garrett seemed desperate to find Ian Quinn.

Two flights were discovered from Rabat International Airport with Quinn on the manifesto – one to London with a stopover in Paris and the other to Latveria. Given the USA's ongoing problems with the eastern Balkan country, the order came direct from Nick Fury himself that they were not to step foot in Latveria, for fear of an international incident. Garrett suspected that Fury would send some more trusted and stealthy operatives to investigate – possibly an Avenger or two. Rather than splitting up the team to search Paris and London, Garrett ordered that they all travel together to Paris first, finding after a day that Quinn had continued onto London.

Yesterday they had arrived in London and set up camp in an economical hotel in the Kings Cross area of the city. It was the ideal place thanks to the multiple tube lines that were accessible from Kings Cross station.

"I've always wanted to visit England" Garrett enthused, trying to brighten the team's spirits, "all the tea and tiny cakes, rugby, castles, and big red buses. Oh, and I've always wanted to try haggis."

"Haggis is delicious but its Scottish" Monroe sullenly corrected.

"Ah, same difference" Garrett laughed off his mistake, surprisingly cheerily.

Morse shook her head, disappointed that her temporary team leader didn't differentiate between England and the rest of the UK. She bet the Scots and Welsh wouldn't be happy either. Morse had been assigned to the team to provide a sixth member, ensuring no-one would be left alone. Since two team members had died, she had been ordered to remain with the team to keep the numbers even. Now she sat twirling one of her battle staves, it helped her think.

"We've got nothing" Monroe erupted angrily.

"Just because Quinn has disappeared, doesn't mean he won't turn up" Triplett replied, trying to be optimistic.

"He's got a boatload of money and we've been chasing him for 2 weeks now, what makes you think we'll find him?" Monroe moodily retorted.

"It's our job to find him, that's how we know that we will" Morse interjected, as she swiftly left the room.

Silence was left in Morse's wake. The three men stared blankly around the room.

"Well, I'm going out for coffee" Garrett broke the silence, "anyone want to come?"

He put his earpiece down on the coffee table.

"I'll come" Trip replied as he eased up from his chair, patting Monroe on the shoulder as they left.

Morse was catching up on some sleep when Monroe's yell woke her. In no time, she was through in the other room standing next to him.

"What is it Dan?" she asked.

"I've just had a message from the London base, they've heard of a deal taking place today between Quinn and a black-market dealer here in the UK. They've got a rough location – Westminster."

"Let's get going then" Morse replied, grabbing equipment off the couch.

New partners, Morse and Monroe ran across to King's Cross Station and dashed down the stairs to the underground railway platforms. It was like entering a maze of tunnels.

"Which line?" Monroe asked.

Morse stared at the tube map, even though she was an excellent S.H.I.E.L.D. agent this was a tricky test of her orientation skills.

"The light blue one – eh… Victoria!" she told him, having found the shortest route.

"Then we have to change at the fourth stop for the grey line" she added quickly.

Rushing to the platform, Morse ran and jumped on the train. Monroe just managed to board but he was in a different carriage from Morse. She tried to contact him through the comms but she couldn't hear him – the sound of the train rumbling on through the tunnels was drowning out any response she was getting. Either that, or the signal wasn't getting through. She just hoped Monroe remembered when to get off the train.

Every stop they passed, the train became increasingly crowded. By the time it came to the stop they had to change at, Monroe was pressed up against the door on the wrong side of the carriage. He had to fight his way through the crush of tourists and commuters to get to the platform. Making it just in time, he saw a relieved Morse standing on the platform. Now it was back to running through the tiled tunnels.

Eventually, the pair arrived at the Westminster tube station and quickly re-emerged from the musty underground to the fresher air of the city. Monroe's phone went– another message from their technical back up at the London base. Quinn had been spotted on CCTV approaching the London Eye and the dealer he was apparently meeting was seen paying off the guards controlling the queue for the Eye.

"It looks like they're going to have a meeting in a private pod" Monroe suggested.

They both knew what that meant – more running. Without even having to look at one another, they sprinted across Westminster Bridge toward the Eye – towering over the Thames. They approached the massive queue for a ride in the pods and regrettably knew what they had to do. They pushed through the crowd, flashing their badges at anyone who questioned them or complained. Getting to the desk, they used the same tactic. It was like the tube situation all over again. Quinn was climbing into his pod as someone waited to close it. Monroe and Morse ran like hell to get in that pod and this time, they couldn't afford to get split up.

The pod left without them so they ran and jumped onto the bottom of it. Monroe, not being as skilled an acrobat as his new partner struggled to keep his grip. Morse helped him to climb up past the pod and onto the spoke-like framework. They knew they didn't have much time to get into a pod as the angle of the spoke edged closer to vertical. Morse catapulted herself onto the roof of the pod and slipping a little, she appeared in the view of the bodyguards.

"We didn't come here to sightsee you two" Garrett said suspiciously.

"We're not sightseeing Garrett, you know you should carry your phone in future" Monroe replied anxiously.

"Well what are you doing on the London eye? And don't lie to me, I can see your altitude increasing."

The crowd gasped below the pair, they no longer cared about riding the attraction, only interested in the ensuing fight on the pod. Quinn's guards drew their guns and began shooting at Morse, failing to break the glass with their bullets.

"We found Quinn" she called to Garrett "He's meeting a black-market dealer."

Garrett sat down in front of one of the laptops, seeing the information received from the London base. Morse pounded on the weakened glass with her feet but it stubbornly remained intact.

"Bobbi, move" Monroe ordered over the comms, he was desperately short on time.

"What's going on?" Garrett asked, chuckling slightly.

Trip grabbed Garrett's arm and pulled him over so he could see the live CCTV feed from Westminster Bridge. They watched, speechless as Monroe jumped across to the pod with his legs extended, shattering the glass as he rolled to a stop beside the bench. Quinn and his dealer friend were pushed to the other end of the pod by the bodyguards who formed a protective barrier. Morse slipped down into the pod gracefully. She pulled her two battle staves from the holsters on her back. Garrett and Trip realised that instead of just sitting watching the chaos, they should be helping their fellow agents. They grabbed their things and dashed out of the hotel room.

"When you're ready come, and get it" Morse grinned at the bodyguards.

"Did she just quote Selena Gomez?" Trip asked aloud.

Garrett shrugged, he didn't care for most modern pop music.

"Where's the nearest tube station to you?" Garrett asked as he and Triplett entered the underground.

"Take the Victoria line, change at the fourth stop for the grey line and get off at the first" Morse replied, eyeing up her opponents who probably wondered what she was talking about.

Morse jumped onto the bench, swinging her battle staves at the two guards who came running towards her on either side. She lunged at one of them as he fell, using her special battle staves to electrocute him. He wasn't dead, but he wouldn't be back up in a hurry. As Morse was getting hands on with some of the bodyguards with her favourite weapon, Monroe had opted for his standard S.H.I.E.L.D. issued Smith & Wesson M&P. Well, it wasn't exactly standard, he'd modified it a little for his convenience. Now it was more like a swiss army knife. Dan preferred to keep a little distance between him and his attacker but he wasn't against using the knife hidden in a slot in his gun. He fired off one round, straight into one of the bodyguard's shoulders. The man staggered backward a little from the impact, bumping into his boss. Quinn shoved his man forward causing the bodyguard to lose balance, hit his head on the bench and fall unconscious.

"Thanks Quinn" Monroe smiled.

Bobbi crossed Dan's path as she vaulted over the bench and battered one of the men in the face with her battle stave before he could fire a round at Monroe. As Morse hit the same man again, his arm swung to the side and the shot fired off into the chest of the guard behind Dan. The guard clutched his chest, stumbled over his own foot, and tumbled out of the capsule and into the river below.

4 down, 2 to go.

Triplett and Garrett emerged from the Westminster underground station on the far side of the Thames, just in time to see a body tumble from the pod.

"That wasn't one of ours, was it?" Garrett asked fearfully.

Triplett instinctively pulled his sniper rifle from his bag and lined up the scope.

"No sir, Monroe and Morse are still up there" Trip replied "I have one of Quinn's guards in my sights, should I take the shot?"

"Hey dynamic duo, duck" Garrett ordered the pair in the pod and Trip fired.

The bullet flew from Triplett's gun. Morse dropped to the floor beside Monroe after electrocuting another guard. She noticed Quinn and his friend were still standing and used one of her battle staves to trip them up. They crashed to the floor as Trip's shot smashed through his target's chest. Blood spattered out from his back as the bullet emerged. The blood hit the glass right above Quinn's head. He was grateful that the hot blonde had tripped him up, the blood would've ruined his suit. However, now he was left defenceless. Well not quite. He had an escape plan, of course he did.

As the two agents lay on the floor, taking a quick breather, Quinn pulled his phone from his inner jacket pocket and activated the small explosives he'd had placed in the pod earlier. It was just enough to explode the capsule and kill everyone inside – he wasn't going to kill bystanders, he wasn't a terrorist after all. It was time to go and Quinn grabbed a black suitcase from beside the bench and ran for the open side of the pod. He swerved out of the way of the female agent's stick and dived out of the pod. He activated his hidden parachute as he glided down to the speedboat waiting on the river below. He felt just like a Bond villain, or even Mr Bond himself.

Quinn's redheaded assistant was sat in the boat in an enormous hat, covering her hair and concealing her identity. He had been told to ensure she did this by his secret contact, the Clairvoyant – a man who had the ability to see the future and had decided to help Quinn. Quinn figured he must've been destined for great things. The Clairvoyant even helped to get rid of those two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in Morocco. Quinn, with the help of the Clairvoyant, had planned everything down to the minute details. One thing he hadn't accounted for though was Trip and his sniper rifle. Half way between the capsule and his boat, Quinn suddenly found himself accelerating towards his escape plan. Agent Triplett had fired off a shot to puncture the small parachute. Quinn plummeted towards the boat, hitting it with a thud, not quite the stylish landing he had planned.

As the boat sped away with Quinn inside, Morse groaned. They had been so close. Suddenly she heard a beeping behind her, she turned and saw a flashing red.

"This pod is rigged to blow" she screamed.

Monroe followed his first instinct and jumped out of the hole in the shattered glass behind him, into the Thames. Morse went to drag the black-market dealer out to safety but he eagerly grabbed her hand and they jumped out together. As they fell, the man didn't notice that the agent had handcuffed him to her. The water of the Thames was cold but he should get used to it – he was off to the Fridge. At least they'd done something right.


	4. Chapter 4

**Berlin, Germany** \- Oct 30 2013

The team had been quickly extracted from London – MI5 and other British security agencies were on the lookout for them and Councilwoman Hawley had a better chance of subduing them if the team had left the country. Now the pressure was on. 'Find Quinn or else', had come the order, straight from the World Security Council themselves.

For the team, it was back to France to hide out, where they received word that Quinn's speedboat had been tracked to London City Airport where he had boarded a plane bound for an unknown destination. Quinn had disappeared this time – no careless trail to follow, no diversion plane, just a good old disappearing trick. Morse knew a thing or two about disappearing, she'd pulled a similar stunt immediately after her divorce. She hadn't wanted anyone to see how broken up she was, least of all Lance. With her training and personal experience, Morse knew she might be able to track Quinn. From the S.H.I.E.L.D. base in France, she had worked with Trip and Monroe chasing leads while Garrett was held up, defending his team over the damage they caused in London and their other failures during the mission.

Two days after the London fiasco, Morse had an idea, she suggested they not only check Quinn and known associates but his girlfriend, or girlfriends, too. That's when S.H.I.E.L.D. uncovered text messages from Quinn's girlfriend to an unknown number. These texts, while seeming normal at first, were encoded messages from Quinn to an infamous South African arms dealer, smuggler, and gangster – Ulysses Klaue. After the two exchanged a few more texts, Monroe had enough to crack the code. They discovered that Klaue and Quinn were due to meet that evening in a Berlin bar.

If Klaue was meeting Quinn then both had become persons of interest to S.H.I.E.L.D. and required stealthy capture. Plus, the capture of a notorious black-market dealer would certainly help to take the pressure off the team. The foursome boarded a quinjet and set off for Berlin.

They sat quietly, strapped in aboard the quinjet. Morse was thinking about the pressure on her and this team, this mission could ruin her career if the misfortune continued. Garrett was thinking about how to get a warning message to Quinn, he was too useful a contact to be locked up in The Fridge. Triplett was thinking about his fallen colleagues – he may have been new to the team but he had bonded with Debs and even cold Kelly. Dan was thinking about his home, his family – he stared deeply at the family picture he always kept on him. It was against S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol to carry personal items but he never parted with the reminder of what he was going home to and what he was fighting to protect.

"You'll be back with them soon Dan" Triplett comforted him.

They all missed home when on missions but it was worst for Monroe as he had a family. They had been away for three weeks but Trip could tell that this was the last step in their hunt for Quinn and that Monroe would be back with his family soon. Well, he was right about one of those things.

The plan was in place and it was airtight. Morse and Garrett would be inside the bar while Monroe took the front entrance and Triplett took the back. Trip would be lined up with his sniper rifle on a nearby fire escape during his stakeout because Monroe had won the coin toss and got the black sedan. After a long wait, Trip reported that he could see Klaue sneaking in through the back entrance, five minutes after Quinn had gone in through the front door. It was starting.

Morse watched from a distance, serving drinks at the bar while Garrett, whose face Quinn didn't know, kept a closer eye as a member of the bar's security team. Quinn and Klaue sat at a high table in the darkest corner, the former drinking a neat bourbon while the latter stuck with simple, bitter beer. Garrett wasn't quite close enough to hear what they were discussing but from the few words he did hear he could piece together that Quinn was on the hunt for a rare metal that Klaue might have access to. Vibranium. Klaue rubbed his neck.

That word set off alarm bells – any agent worth their salt knew that Vibranium, one of the rarest and strongest metals on the planet, was what Howard Stark had used to create Captain America's iconic shield. It was an unspoken belief among S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that the organisation had been named after that shield as a homage to Cap.

It then looked like the two had begun arguing a little. Probably over money, everything surrounding Quinn was money related. To avoid a full-blown argument and ruining his deal, Quinn beckoned over to Garrett and ordered another round for them. Garrett approached Morse at the bar.

"Two more drinks for those gentlemen" Garrett grinned deviously.

"Coming right up" Morse nodded knowingly.

Whilst pouring the drinks, she sneakily dropped a small tablet into the drinks, it dissolved almost instantly. It was time to bring them in, they would have enough evidence against the two by now. Garrett cheerfully carried the drinks from the bar over to the two gentlemen.

Outside the bar all was quiet until a redheaded young woman ran sobbing along the street, her hair was a mess and the strap of her blue dress was damaged at her right shoulder. She ran towards Monroe's black sedan, stopping at the passenger side door, and staring desperately in at him. She hit against the window with her small clutch bag.

"Please, please let me in" he heard her say, muffled through the glass of the window.

He lowered the window slightly.

"What's wrong?" he asked, her flowing red hair reminded him of his wife when the first met.

"My boyfriend, he… he got mad and he started pulling at my dress. Please, he's coming" she gasped in between deep breaths.

"What's going on Dan?" Trip asked, able to hear the woman's voice through the comms.

How could he deny her? He was a gentleman after all and had to help protect her from the abusive boyfriend. He unlocked the door. She scratched anxiously at the handle, yanking the door open and jumping into the car. She slammed the car door shut. She was still crying and Monroe reached over to comfort her. She flinched, terrified of his hand.

"I'm sorry" he apologised as he quickly retracted it.

"No, I'm sorry" she sighed behind her hands.

She pulled a small gun from her bag and shot him in the abdomen without hesitation. The others heard the shot ringing in their ears. The young woman dashed back out of the car. Her work was done and she had no time to fix her make up.

"Dan!?" Trip yelled, he jumped up, dropping his weapon, and running down the fire escape stairs.

Triplett felt his stomach twist and the world became slow motion, he felt himself running as fast as he could round the building. Emerging onto the street, he saw Monroe in the car. He reached out shakily as if trying to grab Triplett even though he was across the street. Trip dashed to the car as Morse and Garrett came rushing out through the front door of the bar, guns drawn.

Triplett jumped into the front seat of the car as Garrett pulled the driver's door open. Morse called an ambulance but it wouldn't arrive in time. Monroe groaned, trying to reach for his pocket, his other hand keeping pressure on the wound. Triplett knew what Monroe wanted, he thrust his hand into his best friend's pocket and retrieved the family picture he was desperate for. Dan died with his best friend at his side and staring at a picture of his beautiful family.

Triplett broke down. Morse stormed back inside the building, she searched for Quinn and Klaue but they were gone – they must've dashed out the back in all the commotion. They'd lost Quinn again, so close but he'd slipped through their fingers. Garrett called for an immediate evac, fortunately there had been an extraction team standing by to receive the four of them with Quinn and Klaue. They would instead, be removing three sullen agents and a body.

The hunt for Ian Quinn was called off after the loss of Agent Dan Monroe's life. The mission was deemed too dangerous to continue by Fury, Pierce and the WSC in light of the incidents in Mellieha, Rabat, London, and Berlin. Ian Quinn was still at large, the lives of three agents had been lost and countless innocent lives had been risked.

One day S.H.I.E.L.D. would get their hands on Quinn but for now… MISSION TERMINATED.


End file.
